The high-profile murder trial of the Menendez brothers has several moving parts, and one of the biggest decision-makers will be the incoming Los Angeles county district attorney, Nathan Hochman, who was a factor in Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Michael Jesic’s decision on Monday to delay the resentencing hearing.
Last month, Los Angeles District Attorney George Gascon, who suffered a resounding election defeat to his independent challenger Hochman, recommended reducing the sentences of the Menendez brothers which could allow them to be eligible for parole pending the judge’s decision.
Hochman takes office on Dec. 2. Judge Jesic said Monday that he wanted to push back the upcoming Dec. 11 hearing to Jan. 30 “out of respect for the new administration.”
Following Gascon’s election loss, California Gov. Gavin Newsom has for now declined to grant a clemency petition for the brothers until Hochman reviews the case.
Erik and Joseph “Lyle” Menendez were found guilty in 1989 of the murders of their parents, Jose and Kitty Menendez, and sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.
The upcoming resentencing hearing is a bid to pressure the judge to reconsider their convictions based on new evidence supporting their claims that they were sexually abused by their affluent music executive father Jose Menendez, which incited the murders of their parents in their Beverly Hills home.
Hochamn laid out in a Fox News Channel interview on Monday that he plans to do a “thorough review of the facts.”
“There are actually three tracks going on in the Menendez case,” Hochman explained on The Story With Martha MacCallum. “There’s a habeas corpus petition filed in may of 2023 and that deals with the new evidence. It basically says: ‘Is this new evidence compelling enough to overturn a verdict that’s now over 30 years old?’ That’s the first track,” the district attorney-elect said.
Hochman continued to explain that Gov. Newsom could “grant clemency and release the Menendez brothers.”
“He could do it today,” he added.
Newsom, however, shared on his Nov. 19 podcast episode of “Politickin’ with Gavin Newsom, Marshawn Lynch and Doug Hendrickson” that he feels the right thing to do after the election is to “hear from the new D.A.” before making any decisions.
“I’ll be deferring to his review, his analysis and recommendation,” the California governor said of Hochman’s upcoming review of the Menendez brothers case.
“The third track is resentencing. Resentencing takes into account additional factors beyond the trial itself like rehabilitation,” Hochman added in his Fox interview.
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“I’m going to do a thorough review of the facts and the law and apparently the judge will as well,” he said, citing his upcoming review of thousands of pages of prison records, trial transcripts, and plans to interview the prosecutor, the defense counsel, law enforcement and the family members of the victims.
“I can guarantee you that I will give this case the review that it absolutely deserves,” Hochamn promised. “There will be no cloud of credibility like there was over my predecessor on whether or not that was a just decision or just a political ploy. I’ll do the work.”